A few weeks back on Facebook I wrote something like “Storage Wars. Pawn Shops. Exterminators. South Beach Tow. Kate Gosselin. I think it’s safe to say there are too many TV channels.” Well, I have to take back what I said about Storage Wars. As a big part of my rockin’ Friday night last weekend, I happened to catch a marathon on A&E, and it’s so addictive, I can see how the characters on it are addicted to the allure of someone’s abandoned storage locker full of junk. Basically, when someone abandons a storage locker, it’s put up for auction. Collectors and people who own consignment and thrift shops bid on the contents. They are only allowed a peek inside. While flashlights are allowed, going inside the locker or opening boxes is prohibited. The show follows a hilarious crew of characters who try to outbid each other, each with their own instincts about what a box or garbage bag inside may mean. By far, the coolest dude on the show, maybe on the planet, is Barry:

He’s a collector who will buy a locker in search of one cool thing. If it turns out to be guitars (he sees a guitar pick and a Bob Marley poster on a locker floor and senses instruments may be hiding under a sectional sofa), he calls up a buddy to help him figure out the value. The buddy just happens to be in Aerosmith. Barry is a combination of a slick Michael Douglas character and Jack Nicholson and your own father. He’s charming, he has a bunch of crazy cool cars, and I suspect he may be a bit of a hoarder, but perhaps a very organized hoarder.

The only con in watching this show? The thought of how many bedbugs are probably in some of those lockers makes me itch. Especially when thrift store owners take upholstered furniture and bags of old clothes to sell in their stores. Ick.

When I was a kid, A&E stood for Arts and Entertainment, and its programming was heavy with the arts part. Along with Bravo, it was full of boring Shakespeare and stuff no kid wanted to watch. It’s so funny how reality television has taken over these channels and what their identities are now. A&E has gone from Opera to Gene Simmons in just a few decades. Go figure.

Have you watched this show? If so, who is your favorite character and what was your favorite treasure that they have found?

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